Minnesota Minimum Wage Raised To $8.00 An Hour

Pipestone, MN

With a set of new laws taking over in Minnesota today, the minimum wage is being bumped to $8.00 an hour, and there are mixed feelings on the change.

Hank's Foods in Pipestone has been in Tim Darveaux's family since 1972. Even though employees in the cashier and bagging department start out at minimum wage for a probationary period, this owner doesn't see the change affecting his business, at least not for now. As far as the future is concerned, Darveaux isn't looking forward to a series of planned increases in wage.

"We're a little nervous about that aspect of it, that they're going to put the future on auto-pilot. I think that's a mistake," Hank's Foods Owner Tim Darveaux said.

Darveaux says there are a lot of costs that go into owning a business, and he's afraid the increase in minimum wage is going to put smaller shops in a bad place.

"It will drive out more mom and pop businesses. I think the bigger will get bigger, and the smaller will disappear from the landscape." Darveaux said.

But not everyone is wary of the increase. Kelsey Carter works at Hank's, and she’s currently in the probationary period of minimum wage.

"Right now I'm living with my mother and my dad and I'm wanting to get my own house and stuff of my own for me and my kid and my boyfriend, and with the minimum wage raising, it's going to help me be able to save up money and have enough to do that," Hank's Foods employee Kelsey Carter said.

The result of a law that's scheduled to bring Minnesota's minimum wage up to $9.50 by 2016.

South Dakotans will vote on whether or not to raise the minimum wage in November.